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Glenabah Martinez knows firsthand the benefits teachers and students share when they are from the same community. She wants to help fast track Indigenous college grads to teach in public schools.

Martinez (Taos/Din茅), taught students from Taos Pueblo but was immersed in the culture and traditions that she shares with those students outside the school. 

Now, in her role as a professor at the University of New Mexico, she wants to expand that opportunity for future educators fresh out of college that can be part of reforming public education in the state and modeling a path toward maintaining traditional cultures while becoming leaders. 

鈥淲e have to not only teach them how to read and write and do things in the Western way, but we have to recognize that they鈥檙e getting a strong cultural education at home as well,鈥� she said. 

Martinez is looking for recent Native American college graduates or people who are about to finish their degree to take part in a program that will provide them a smooth path to a teaching license with first-hand experience teaching a class in their home community. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to recruit people to become teachers that not only are going to teach but are going to teach in their Native community,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e talking about teachers to work in rural areas.鈥�

The program is open to Native American students enrolled in UNM鈥檚 Department of Education as well as Natives students with at least a bachelor鈥檚 degree in a field that can be useful in a K-12 classroom. 

Think history, math, music, the humanities and sciences. 

Martinez is hosting information sessions about the program on Thursday.

UNM鈥檚 Institute of American Indian Education is recruiting recent or soon-to-be college graduates who are Native American to teach K-12 in their home communities. 

The university鈥檚 Institute for American Indian Education will facilitate instruction and give students the opportunity to meet education professionals working on expanding Indigenous representation in the classroom, as well as mentorship from Native American education leaders. The program is funded by a $250,000 grant from the New Mexico Public Education Department.

This is just one step in the process to reform public education in the state, Martinez said. She hopes to build off bringing more teachers into tribal communities to further enhance how public schools educate students on Native American issues.

鈥淚 would revamp the whole (teacher) certification program that everybody 鈥� whether you鈥檙e from Clovis, or you鈥檙e from Akron, Ohio, and you want to live in New Mexico 鈥� you need to know about Native education,鈥� Martinez said, 鈥渂ecause you鈥檙e probably going to have Native students in your classes.鈥�

Until that happens, she is dedicated to getting students in front of teachers that share lived experiences and an understanding of their traditional culture.

State leaders mandated to reform public education by the court judgment in the Yazzie-Martinez case are facing a teacher shortage but also a major gap in educators representing the students they teach. The program Martinez is recruiting is a response to that lawsuit.

Specifically, the court said that students living in poverty, who have disabilities, who are learning English as a second language and Native Americans were most at-risk because of failures of the state鈥檚 public education system.

Native American students make up more than 10 percent of the total public school population statewide, but Indigenous teachers only account for 3 percent of the workforce, according to the N.M. Public Education Department. In predominantly Native American school districts, such as those on tribal lands, the number does go up but is still lagging behind non-Indigenous instructors.

Education officials argue that students perform better when their teacher is representative of their community.

Martinez said teachers from tribal communities understand cultural bonds that might conflict with a student鈥檚 classroom participation.

鈥淣ative teachers from your own community, they know you, they advocate for you, they support you,鈥� Martinez said. 鈥淭hey totally understand what it means to be an educated Mescalero Apache person.鈥�

For instance, traditional days for ceremonies are not always in line with the school calendar, she said, which can force an absence or disciplinary action if a teacher does not know the community customs that can take a student out of the classroom for days.

鈥淭hat recognition is only that, that can be given by fellow Native people from your community, because they participate,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey see them participating in the cultural life of the communities.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Marisa Demarco for questions: [email protected]. Follow Source New Mexico on and .

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